This is most likely because I was just mega sleeping on Verno and didn't watch too many Tier 2 games, but I was expecting Mada to be NRG's "MVP", but with every game it is Verno for me. I knew he was good (all of NRG really), but he's become a fav player for me

real

😂

so uh, how bout that C9 news huh?😅 (no i'm not distracting from the loss 🥲)

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Fair, I think we're both on the understanding that obviously the blame lies within the actual chatters themselves than Shanks. I just think it comes from that, assuming most people in these chats are young and immature, they see Shanks laughing and in turn feel the need to contribute. I guess I wouldn't say Shanks share direct responsibility since, as you brought up, it wasn't as if he straight up told anyone to say what they did. Tbh, I'm sure much of my thoughts are coming from an overall point of view on how I feel about the internet, as there are 100% people far worse than Shanks and intentionally try to contribute to the issue, but yeah most of the time ppl do it for attention and seeing someone laugh about it might add to the encouragement. Then again, a VLR thread about the issue also counts as a form of attention towards the matter so ig I'm part of the problem.

I don't necessarily think that it's trying to scapegoat shanks but more just kind of the shift that offensive doesn't equal funny. And that while dark humor can exist and be funny there's an obvious line. Yes it is easy to point to other examples/other people that are worse or how it was common in earlier ages of internet, but I think it is more that people who enable it (i.e. Shanks in this case) only contribute to the matter. Whether it means Shanks himself is horrible or racist or whatever is up to individual interpretation, but actively enabling it definitely isn't doing anyone good. There are arguments trying to say that people are "soft" or "lack personality" but as I mentioned before just outright saying slurs or making SA statements isn't funny I feel. Again, Shanks isn't to blame for the big picture issue with how the internet is, but enabling it will cause more harm than good.

goat

lol

incognito seemed to work for me

always knew he was amazing on raze but idk why I was so so late to see that he is probably the best raze player

It's mainly speculation, but it is backed up by some small sample sizes of the Sen city classic voice comms, and the fact that C9 announced it was due to IGL style, and in past years the IGL style was very free, they definitely joked about the "oxy go kill" thing a lot. Obvi no exact way to tell and jokes are just jokes so its just a guess. And it also could be a thing where even if he wasn't "micromanaging" he probably did want some change whether it be for more discipline, or maybe he was more aggressive when it came to holding people accountable than they were used to idk. Some players care about that, other don't we'll never know fs until C9 players themselves say, but past Rossy teammates like iZu are very confused so I would guess that he's not mean and players understand there's just a desire to win, but idk maybe C9 weren't expecting that even if winning came as a result 🤷‍♂️.

hello

I thought I was the only one who liked franchising lol. not that i think its perfect, but I thought it made sense

me too, even though I'm obviously rooting for SEN, I just want it to be competitive between all the teams (especially NA orrgs), but it's looking like 2025 Americas might be really entertaining to watch

I mean it sucks that Sen isn't looking as good as I had hoped, but I am actually glad to see NRG playing super well rn. I hope both teams continue to get better

I know a lot of people liked the pre-franchising era more, and some even think 2023 was better than 2024, but I would like to appreciate that all International Grand Finals this year went to map 5. Granted, not every single map was close, but overall I think map 5 grand finals makes for entertaining Valorant in terms of it not feeling like a one sided matchup. I just hope future years continue on being competitive without one region just being the clear favorites every time

probably didn't help that contracts couldn't end til Oct 7, meaning they couldn't get guaranteed answers when trying to plan for it 🤷‍♂️ or maybe they always planned for this to be the event this year

i think he mentioned it during his stream, there hasn't been any official posts about it though

allat but BabyJ clears

nah don't downplay the other performances

https://x.com/VLRdotgg/status/1826707499036328243

i'm a fan of both as well. I hope either SEN or TH win it all, best of luck map 2 🫡

bro 😭

The vid didn't really seem like hating sen tbh. I know the narrative that he hates sen is funny, I do laugh about it myself, but in all honesty it did feel like he was highlighting Sen's ability to be able to turn around scenarios that seem impossible rather than dominating with a good, set play. But it's not like he was saying they don't have good plays.

Besides from FNS, I have not seen anyone else putting TenZ in their top 5 of all time.

how many of these are you going to make 😂

I can see how it wasn't necessary the most optimal decision to jump right away, and just waiting a little longer would've been better in wasting util. But I can't understand anyway in which it should be considered "disrespectful to the sport" as Lothar tried to put it. Yes it could have been done slightly better like how Fnatic tried, but that doesn't make it an issue.

actual big W

I mean I had a thread not too long ago asking if I thought 2023 was their best chance for a trophy considering the meta and the map pool. Some people thought I was overreacting a little to a loss, but I have been thinking that regardless of how they would perform I just couldn't see a world where they beat the top international teams

smartest sen fan (yes I know I'm a sen fan)

I would be fine with it as long as its a close and fun match tbh

VLR will hate anyone/team who loses/botfrags/throws unfortunately

Nothing but respect for him, he's been consistently great all year imo

Because I woke up today expecting them to go home and was anticipating the heartbreak 😭

We need to chill with saying they're gonna win champs 😭we can't jinx, still a long road for them. Sad for GENG though

LMAO i didn't even realize

I don't think my choice is better but I do really like PRX v NRG map 3 bind during Masters Tokyo. There were like 3-4 rounds in a row of just Forsaken and Jinggg making insane plays.

lmao

bro I went to your profile to look for the other comparisons you mentioned, just to see you are the biggest RB fan ever 😂had me cracking up

The format is braindead, but if the record from both stages are going to be considered might as well include all h2h. If they only wanted to include matches from just stage 2, then 100T might not have even made playoffs, 100T went 2-3, tied with LOUD. Furia actually would've been in top 6 for stage 2 performance having a better record than 100T

If they weren't going to included h2h from 5 months ago, the overall records shouldn't have been combined then. They should have just considered stage 2 performance if that is the argument. I will agree the format is shit, but I mean if they're combining stage 1 and 2 performance, they should include the h2h in that too right?

My top 5 any order:
Korean
Filipino
African-American (Soul Food)
Mexican
Vietnamese (Pho is carrying but I have been obsessed with it my whole life)

If somehow they get to the level they were playing at Madrid, then top 4 is realistic for them MAYBE even winning, but everyone would need to be at the top of their game. If they're playing how they are now, top 8 is doable.

C9, I honestly don't know why, I like the players yet for some reason when their matches come around I want them to lose lol

I always believed and never thought he should be dropped, but he's honestly surpassed my expectations for the year. I'm happy for him

He has always been the goat in my eyes, but yeah winning champs will pretty much make it undebatable

for kick off the only team to get champ points was the kick off winner +3. Masters Madrid winner gets +3 (SEN). In stage 1, teams get +1 for every win including playoffs, regional winner gets +3 similar to kickoff. Shanghai winner gets +3 (GENG). Stage 2 same as last stage: +1 for every win including playoffs, winner gets none because it doesn't matter at that point.

chilllll 😢

it's the loudest of the bunch not necessarily the majority that hate Sacy. I feel most SEN fans respect Sacy and understand how pivotal he is to SEN's success both in and outside the server.